(162e) Total Reflux Dual Piston PSA

We present the results from the total reflux dual piston Vacuum and Pressure Swing Adsorption apparatus developed at the University of Edinburgh. The system has been recently extended to include the dynamic response of gas phase and solid phase temperature at two positions along an adsorption column, in addition to total pressure and column pressure drop. The temperature responses have allowed further development of the model of the system, which now includes also the heat generated by the piston movement. Representative experiments with helium and pure and binary mixtures of nitrogen and carbon dioxide on 13X pellets will be presented. The new apparatus is used to validate models of adsorption columns over a very wide range of conditions: vacuum to 25 bar; 20-200 °C; cycle times as fast as 1 s. The fact that the movement of the pistons can be controlled independently allows also to run the system under both linear and non-linear frequency response conditions.

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under grants EP/G062129/1 and EP/F034520/1